Rumor: Project Natal in November 2010, Won’t Cost Much

Microsoft is yet to announce a release window for the Xbox 360’s motion-sensing camera, codenamed Project Natal, but that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from having its say. On the word of unnamed sources, MCV reports that Project Natal will be released in November 2010, with a price tag of under £50. We’ve heard “fall 2010″ before, both from Peter Molyneux who said that’s the earliest Project Natal will arrive and in a report from 1UP that said Microsoft will launch an updated console along with the motion controller (Microsoft has denied this). The release window certainly makes sense, with Molyneux working on the Natal-supported Fable 3 for next year, but what’s most interesting here is the price point.

MCV’s sources say Microsoft wants Natal to be an “impulse buy,” and while one source suggested a £50 price tag (roughly $80), another pegged the cost at £30 for the motion-sensing camera alone, translating to roughly $50. Microsoft is reportedly taking the technology around to publishers and developers now, and plans to launch Natal with 14 games, most of them from first-party developers. It’s not known whether some permutation of “Milo,” the artificial intelligence demonstrated at E3, will be included, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see the technology wind up in some of the games. [MCV via Engadget]